Kansas Birth Injury Attorneys

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Practice Areas

Birth Asphyxia

Brachial Plexus Injury

Cephalohematoma

Cerebral Palsy

Delivery Room Errors

Erbs Palsy

Forceps Delivery Injury

Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy

Infant Brain Bleed

Infant Seizure

Placental Abruption

Preeclampsia

Pregnancy Complications

Shoulder Dystocia

Although the birth of a child is expected to be a joyful, momentous occasion, a birth injury can turn a joyful experience into one far more devastating. Any harm that occurs to a baby during or near its birth is categorized as a birth injury. Birth injuries can be minor, or they can cause life-altering complications, permanent disabilities, and even death.

One of the most alarming aspects of birth injuries is their preventability. In fact, up to 50 percent of birth injuries are caused simply by the failure of trusted health professionals. When a physician neglects to properly follow the standards of care, effectively monitor mother and child, or quickly address potential issues at all stages of pregnancy and delivery, the risk of birth injury rises dramatically. In cases in which a health professional’s lack of action (or improper care) has caused a birth injury, they are guilty of medical malpractice. This is similar to situations handled by a Topeka burn injury lawyer, who deals with the consequences of professional negligence.

Why Choose Us

A birth injury can be a severe and traumatic event, and when seeking a birth injury lawyer, you want to go with someone who appreciates the seriousness of it all.

Our team not only has the skill and experience necessary to thrive in this field but the compassion and empathy we hold for our clients are also important. And that’s not just us blowing smoke up your rear – you can read several testimonials attesting to that.

Our skills are also plain to see, having earned several accolades and achievements throughout our history. Gary D. White was awarded Topeka’s Trial Lawyer of the Year.

So, if you need the assistance of a birth injury attorney, call us today.

How We Can Help

Of the kinds of injury cases that one may suffer from, birth injuries can be among the most traumatic. As such, having birth injury attorneys acting as advocates who are both compassionate and skillful when representing your best interests, whether before, during, or after the trial, is vital.

What are the Most Common Types of Birth Injuries?

Birth injuries run the gamut from small, easily resolvable issues to those that will require lifelong treatment and specialized care. Regardless of the perceived severity of your child’s birth injury, you have the right to pursue legal action.

According to Stanford Children’s Health, the 6 most common birth injuries include:

Swelling or bruising of the head
Bleeding underneath one of the cranial bones.
Breakage of small blood vessels in the eyes of a baby
Facial nerve injury caused by pressure on the baby’s face
Injury to the group of nerves that supplies the arms and hands
Fracture of the clavicle or collarbone.

What are the Causes of Birth Injuries?

There are many different things that can cause a birth injury, including factors that come into play during a mother’s pregnancy, before and during delivery, and after the baby’s birth. Although ongoing advancements in medical care have helped to reduce contributing factors to birth injuries, there are still noteworthy issues surrounding the care of mothers and infants.

Among the most common causes of birth injuries are:

Miscommunication

If a healthcare provider fails to prepare an expectant mother for labor and delivery properly, it may set the stage for misaligned expectations for care. Proper communication is critical to ensure that everyone involved is adequately prepared for the process.

Inexperienced Midwives

Because each state enforces varying regulations for midwives, it is not uncommon for some midwives to be extremely inexperienced or improperly trained.

Poor Monitoring

Fetal heart monitoring is critical before, during, and after delivery, and failure to do so correctly and consistently can lead to missed opportunities to promptly address serious issues.

Failure to Manage Labor and Delivery

According to a recent study, close to half of birth injury liability claims were related to healthcare professionals’ lackluster ability to manage birth and delivery. For example, there are many cases in which vaginal births were pursued despite being the more dangerous route (as opposed to a C-section), resulting in complications for the mother and/or child.

How Frequently Do Birth Injuries Happen?

You may be surprised to discover that birth injuries are more common than you’d think, affecting about 7 out of every 1,000 babies born in the United States each year. While that statistic is extremely worrisome, even more alarming is the fact that a sizable percentage of birth injuries are completely preventable.

Many distinct factors can contribute to birth injury, putting certain individuals at higher risk. In some populations, birth injury occurs even more frequently than noted above. Understanding your risk can help you learn more about your specific situation, as well as who may be held responsible.

For example, mothers who live in rural or low-income communities may have limited access to qualified health professionals, which has a direct impact on their child’s risk of being injured during birth. Other factors that may contribute to how often birth injuries occur include:

Preterm Births

According to the World Health Organization, “every year, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm”, meaning they are born before the mother has completed her 37th week of pregnancy. These children are at a considerably higher risk of birth injury, especially because important systems (including muscles, the brain, and the nervous system) have yet to fully develop. In such cases, seeking guidance from a traumatic brain injury attorney in Topeka can be crucial for families dealing with the legal and medical complexities that often accompany such situations.

Genetic Predisposition

Unfortunately, genetics can play a role in causing birth injuries, especially those such as cerebral palsy. Although it is extremely difficult to identify children who are predisposed to birth injuries, healthcare professionals must take great care to do everything possible.

Toxin Exposure

If expectant mothers are inadvertently exposed to dangerous chemicals, such as methylmercury, it can increase the risk and frequency of birth injury.

Birth Injury and Medical Malpractice

In many cases, a birth injury can be traced back to medical malpractice and negligence. Estimates state that “for every 1000 babies born in the U.S., five will be injured during birth” – this means that in tens of thousands of cases, a simple error committed by a healthcare professional has a direct effect on the health and safety of the patients in their care.

If your child experienced a birth injury, it could be challenging to pinpoint whether it was caused by medical malpractice. At Palmer Law Group, we can help you determine if you have a birth injury case, and what your next steps should be.

What Kind of Compensation Can I Get if My Child Was Injured During Birth?

Birth injuries can have lifelong effects for both the child and their family, including:

Medical expenses
Specialized care
Loss of quality of life
Permanent disabilities.

If your child was injured during birth, a malpractice suit can help you obtain financial compensation to cover the above, as well as the emotional trauma resulting from the devastating experience.

Good Traits in a Birth Injury Attorney

Our team has several great qualities one should look for in attorneys, including:

Engagement – While this is a business relationship, our team has deep compassion for our clients and the woes they are going through.

Experience – Being green behind the ears does not mean a birth injury attorney cannot be a superstar attorney. Still, more risk will be taken than with our team, which balances the value of age-old wisdom and new ideas.

Skill – Being experienced is good, but a lot of experience, only with losses, differs from the kind of experience you want. Birth injury lawyers who can put their money where their mouth is are necessary when going forward with a birth injury lawsuit. Thankfully, the accolades received by our team and the law firm do a lot of the talking for us.

Once satisfied that you have the right law firm to ally with on your prospective lawsuit, the next step is for us to determine whether your lawsuit has merit in the first place.

It is not easy to hear, but in some cases, there may be insufficient evidence to go forward, or the evidence may be in favor of the would-be defendant.

Nevertheless, we diligently look over cases that are presented to us to make sure that there is an absence of evidence rather than an absence of research on our part.

Once we have determined that the case has merit, we will work with you to choose the best way to go ahead and keep you abreast of it as it progresses.

In addition to our skills in birth injury litigation, we also work with wrongful death cases. Should you need such services, whether it is related to a birth injury or not, our Topeka KS, birth injury attorneys can help you with that. Our expertise extends beyond Topeka, as we also have experienced Manhattan, KS wrongful death attorney who can provide assistance in such matters.

FAQs About Birth Injury

How Do I Tell if Medical Malpractice Occurred in a Birth Injury?

Even the most experienced obstetrician is not guaranteed to avoid a birth injury; instead, they are more able to mitigate risks. Thus, you cannot simply show that a birth injury occurred; instead, you need to prove that the four legal elements of medical malpractice were breached:

The doctor(s) and/or hospital has a duty of care over you;
This duty was breached;
The breach caused an injury;
Damages occurred from the injury.

Evidence of a birth injury is often easy to prove depending on the type of injury, as is a duty of care. However, the biggest hurdle will be showing that negligence, rather than a reasonable mistake, was at play.

What is the Distinction Between a Reasonable and Unreasonable Mistake?

Basically, a reasonable mistake might be something out of their control that leads to it, or a miscommunication. An unreasonable mistake would be something that no legitimate doctor would do (such as leaving a tool in someone’s body after surgery).

Additionally, even if the mistake was reasonable, they also need to make a reasonable effort to correct the error.

How to Tell If the Birth Injury Was Caused by the Doctor?

If your child has a birth injury right out of the womb, this suggests that something may have happened during delivery. The best way to figure out if it was a product of medical malpractice would be to get an expert opinion from a medical professional.

Do Many Personal Injury Lawsuits Go to Trial?

Often, personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court, with this being the ideal solution for all parties involved due to the cost and time associated. Only a small percentage – around 5 percent – of these cases make it to trial. In such situations, consulting with a reputable Manhattan, KS personal injury attorney can provide valuable guidance.

The ones that make it to trial either had talks fall apart, or one or both parties want to bring it to try to prove a point.

Client Testimonial

”Meaghan Girard was incredible. She was very thoughtful and honest throughout the entire process. As was Kristy Coker, Meaghan’s paralegal. I highly recommend Meaghan and Palmer Law Group and cross fingers won’t need a personal injury attorney anytime soon BUT if I do, my first call will be to Meaghan.” – Amanda T (Google Review)